<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">Pasted and attached please find a press release and letter from the Hoopa Valley Tribe. If you have questions, please contact me. <BR>
Thank you,<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Chalkboard" LANG="0" SIZE="2">Tod Bedrosian<BR>
Bedrosian & Associates<BR>
835 Klein Way<BR>
Sacramento, CA 95831<BR>
(916)421-5121</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" FAMILY="SERIF" SIZE="1"><BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times" FAMILY="SERIF" SIZE="2"><B>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
HOOPA VALLEY TRIBE TELLS CONGRESS TRINITY RIVER RESTORATION PROMISES MUST BE KEPT BEFORE SAN JOAQUIN RIVER RESTORATION IS PASSED<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
</B></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times" FAMILY="SERIF" SIZE="2">Media Contacts: Clifford Lyle Marshall (530) 625-4211 ext. 161<BR>
Mike Orcutt (530) 625-4267 ext. 13<BR>
Tod Bedrosian (916) 421-5121<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times" FAMILY="SERIF" SIZE="2"><B>Hoopa, Calif.</B></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times" FAMILY="SERIF" SIZE="2"> – The Hoopa Valley Tribe of northern California has notified Congressional and administration San Joaquin River restoration supporters of the tribe’s concern the plan for the San Joaquin is fiscally gluttonous and could drain restoration funds from the Trinity River, which bisects the Hoopa Valley Reservation. <BR>
<BR>
“They risk killing a living river and the fish in it if the San Joaquin legislation (H.R. 24/S. 27) becomes a new consumer of California’s river restoration funding,” said Hoopa Tribal Chairman Clifford Lyle Marshall. In an Oct. 23 letter, the Hoopa Valley Tribal Council asked 10 members of California's congressional delegation (list at the bottom of this press release) to change the funding mechanism for the San Joaquin River restoration and support legislation authored by Rep. Mike Thompson (H.R. 2733) to ensure the promise of restoration for the Trinity River.<BR>
<BR>
In the letter, the tribe also notes federal funding shortfalls for the restoration of the Trinity River are allowing fish habitat to worsen. “Our tribal fishery is failing because of a collapse of the fish populations in the Klamath and Trinity rivers,” noted Marshall. <BR>
<BR>
The Hoopa Valley Tribal Council sent the letter to key members of Congress saying, “We need your assistance to ensure that the Federal government’s prior commitment and trust responsibility for Trinity restoration are not sacrificed to the San Joaquin settlement.” <BR>
<BR>
Since the San Joaquin settlement was first introduced in the fall of last year, the tribe has said the legislation’s funding mechanism will be used by the administration to divert restoration monies from the Trinity River restoration program approved in December 2000. Congressional representatives, environmental groups, water and power contractors in the Central Valley, and administration officials have asked the Hoopa Valley Tribe not to oppose the San Joaquin legislation. The tribe’s letter replies the tribe can only drop opposition to the San Joaquin restoration if funding for the Trinity River restoration is assured with legislation, H.R. 2733, authored by north coast Rep. Thompson and co-sponsored by Rep. George Miller. <BR>
<BR>
Marshall said the federal government betrayed its promises to restore the Trinity River when administration officials refused to support H.R. 2733 during a Sept. 18, House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing on the bill. The tribe supports H.R. 2733 as a way to bolster sagging federal restoration efforts on the Trinity River.<BR>
<BR>
“We support river restoration throughout California, but Congress must recognize the San Joaquin restoration legislation could allow the Interior Department to create a billion-dollar vortex that will suck up available restoration funding for California rivers, including the Trinity,” said Marshall.<BR>
<BR>
He said the Trinity River restoration project is under funded by $8 million annually and is seven years behind schedule, according to estimates developed this year by the Secretary of the Interior and the tribe. “Shifting limited funds to San Joaquin will reduce funding for Trinity River restoration further,” he said.<BR>
<BR>
“Funding for the Trinity needs to be identified and confirmed now because conditions have worsened for the Trinity and Klamath rivers fishery.” Marshall said the Trinity River is the only tributary to the Klamath River producing quantities of salmon available for local harvest. “If the Trinity River goes down, so goes fishing for native people, sports fishermen and the commercial fishing industry for 900 miles of the Northern California and Oregon coastline. The San Joaquin will take decades to restore. Funding for the Trinity will produce immediate returns on investment and immediate benefits to the coastal communities that rely on the salmon.”<BR>
<BR>
Marshall said the Hoopa Valley Tribe would like to continue talks with Sen. Dianne Feinstein about restoration of the Trinity River. “The Senator has been a friend to the Trinity River in the past. I think she is concerned that the Bureau of Reclamation is only committing half of the money it should on the government’s promise to restore the Trinity River. Congressman Thompson’s Bill will fix the annual funding shortfall. We hope she will introduce the same bill in the Senate.”<BR>
<BR>
The federal government began diverting Trinity River waters to the Central Valley in l964, but promised enough water would be retained for the river’s fish and wildlife. Since then the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) has allowed up to 90 percent of the river’s water to be diverted. In the l980’s Congress recognized the diversion had caused an 80 percent reduction in salmon populations. In 1992, the Central Valley Project Improvement Act was passed to create funding for environmental restoration of California rivers harmed by commercial water users. In 2000, a Record of Decision agreement signed by the Hoopa Valley Tribe and the U.S. Department of Interior for meeting federal trust responsibilities to restore and maintain the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s fishery. Since then the tribe has had to litigate against Central Valley interests opposed to giving up water for fishery restoration and fight for restoration monies from the BOR. <BR>
<BR>
“The San Joaquin settlement is the latest blow to Trinity River restoration,” said Marshall<BR>
<BR>
- 30 - <BR>
The Oct. 23, 2007 letter from Hoopa Valley Tribal Chairman Clifford Lyle Marshall was sent to these California Congressional representatives, administration officials and other water users.<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times" FAMILY="SERIF" SIZE="2"><B>Member Fax Phone<BR>
<BR>
</B></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times" FAMILY="SERIF" SIZE="2">Feinstein 202 228-3954 or 202 224-3841<BR>
202 228-4741<BR>
<BR>
Boxer 415 956-6701 202 224-3553<BR>
<BR>
Radanovich 202 225-3402 202 225-4540<BR>
<BR>
Napolitano 202 225-0027 202 225-5256<BR>
<BR>
Cardoza 202 225-0819 202 225-6131<BR>
<BR>
Costa 202 225-9308 202 225-3341<BR>
<BR>
Baca 202 225-8671 202 225-6161<BR>
<BR>
McNerney 202 226-0861 202 225-1947<BR>
<BR>
Miller 202 225-5609 202 225-2095<BR>
<BR>
Thompson 202 225-4335 202 225-3311<BR>
<BR>
CCs<BR>
Karen G. Wayland, Ph.D<BR>
Legislative Director<BR>
Natural Resources Defense Council<BR>
1200 New York Avenue, Suite 400<BR>
Washington, D.C. 20005<BR>
Phone 202 289-2402<BR>
Fax 202 289-1060<BR>
<BR>
Honorable Dirk Kempthorne<BR>
Secretary of the Interior<BR>
MS 6217-MIB<BR>
1849 C Street, NW<BR>
Washington, D.C. 20240<BR>
Phone 202 208-7351<BR>
Fax 202 208-6956<BR>
<BR>
Kole Upton, Chairman<BR>
Friant Water Users Authority<BR>
c/o The Ferguson Group<BR>
1130 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.<BR>
Suite 300<BR>
Washington, D.C. 20036<BR>
Phone 202 331-8500<BR>
Fax 202 331-1598<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"></FONT><BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> See what's new at http://www.aol.com</HTML>